We are committed to sharing unbiased reviews. Some of the links on our site are from our partners who compensate us. Read our editorial guidelines and advertising disclosure .
The United States is the only country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to provide zero paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave. 1 Any paid parental leave is either an added employer benefit or taken from the employee’s personal or sick leave. Compared to the rest of the world, the US doesn’t compete when it comes to guaranteed paid maternity leave.
Yes, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. 2 But this law leaves many parents, including small-business employees, without guaranteed paid time away from work.
According to our employee benefits survey, 30% of women and 28% of men say paid parental leave is their most valued benefit. However, the BLS reports that only 23% of civilian workers had access to paid family leave as of March 2021. 3
To help small-business owners better understand how to create better company benefits, we calculated the full-rate equivalent pay for maternity leave around the world. Using data available from the OECD, we found the number of weeks of paid maternity leave multiplied by the payment rate in each country.
We’ll also briefly discuss how maternity leave has changed over time and how paternity leave looks worldwide.